Aleena and the Doctor had remained pretty quiet with each other as she led us through some narrow, side streets towards a wood-panelled two-story building beside a canal.
The entrance was set low down into the ground which was reached by a small set of stone steps.
‘I thought a records room would have been grander,’ said the Doctor.
‘Nobody uses it much,’ said Aleena. ‘They have no reason to check back on our past. Another annoying habit of my people.’
Aleena knocked on the door and a small, white-haired old man opened the creaking door.
‘Yes,’ he said, fumbling a monacle into his right eye. He clearly hadn’t been expecting visitors.
‘We need some information,’ said Aleena.
The old man laughed. ‘Information? On what?’ he said, almost as if he hadn’t ever had visitors before.
‘On Deela.’
The old man almost fell back in shock. ‘Why ever would you want to read about her?’
‘Because we have reason to believe that she’s back. Haven’t you been watching the news?’ said Aleena, becoming irritated with the old man.
‘No. I’m afraid it’s just me and my cret.
‘What’s a cret?’ I asked.
‘Like a cat,’ said Aleena, brushing aside my question. ‘We need to come in.’
‘Do you have the appropriate papers?’ asked the man, trying to get a better look at myself and the Doctor.
‘Step aside, old man,’ said Aleena, pushing past him.
‘Steady Aleena,’ said the Doctor as he followed her in.
‘What’s your name, pal?’ I asked as I slipped past the old man.
‘Henri,’ he said, scampering after us.
‘Nice to meet you, Henri,’ I said.
We went down a dimly lit corridor and through an ante-chamber. A window high up in the wall gave a little bit of light, but it was almost too dark to see anything.
We were led through a few more doors until we reached another dimly lit room, this time with shelves and shelves of books, CD’s and other items designed for recording information.
‘Go and make us a cup of tea, please, Henri,’ said the Doctor.
Henri gave a little salute and hobbled back the way we had come, muttering something about outsiders.
‘So where do we start?’ I asked.
‘None of this is organised,’ groaned Aleena. ‘It’ll take us forever.’
‘Matthew, you take that shelf over there,’ said the Doctor, pointing towards one on the right. ‘I’ll look up here. Aleena, you take the central stacks.’
‘And what are we looking for?’ I asked, starting to sift through huge, leather-bound books.
‘Anything relating to death on this planet. The afterlife.’
And so we spent the next hour or so digging through old, dusty books looking for anything relating to the Xanji-For afterlife. And after all the books and all the searching and all the stress, we found absolutely…nothing. Nothing at all.
Henri had watched on in interest, and when we had finally confronted him about why there were no books on the subject, he had looked clueless.
‘Who knows?’ he simply said, shrugging his shoulders.
‘But, surely you have something?’ said the Doctor. ‘A bible? A set of rules? Documents? A badly drawn picture?? Something!’
‘The afterlife is taught to us at a young age by the council,’ said Henri, slurping on his cold tea, ‘but there are no records of it. We have no need to consult the truth.’
‘Aleena?’ said the Doctor.
‘I’ve never seen a book or bible or anything, but the council must get their information from somewhere.’
‘Hmmm,’ said the Doctor, tapping his chin. ‘Who teaches the story of the afterlife?’
‘Teachers, religious leaders.’
‘All high-up people?’ he said.
‘Exactly. Only they have direct communication with Ireel.’ She shrugged her shoulders. ‘That’s why so many have rebelled. We wanted some kind of proof, and until tonight we had none.’
The Doctor sat down on a pile of books, head in his hands.
I crossed over to him. ‘Are you alright?’ I asked, touching his shoulder.
The Doctor seemed to shudder and then looked up at me, smiling. ‘Thank you, Matthew.’
Aleena looked on glumly.
‘Your people…How could they have gotten in this state?’
‘What do you mean?’
‘I mean that I’m now left with the stupid possibility of having to expose any possible lies about your afterlife and effectively throw your entire civilisation into chaos.’ He got up and half-groaned, half-growled, talking to himself. ‘They said I shouldn’t ever get involved in other planets affairs. Sometimes I think they were right.’
‘We’ll be fine,’ I said, understanding a little of what the Doctor was saying. I remembered the Time Lords and their insistence that the Doctor not “get involved”. I chuckled slightly to myself, but I didn’t know why.
‘Would anyone like another cup of tea?’ asked Henri from the back of the records room.
‘No,’ said Aleena, a little abruptly.
‘And you,’ said the Doctor, wheeling around and stepping up to Aleena. ‘Whatever has happened to you, snap out of it!’
‘I beg your pardon?’ she said, a little taken aback.
‘You’re a grown woman. Stop sulking. Be the Aleena I used to know.’
‘That Aleena’s gone.’
‘Why? Because I didn’t come running to you straight away? Because I stopped you from spying on me and my adventures?’
She shook her head. ‘Don’t be stupid, Doctor.’
‘Then why is it? Come on, Aleena. I’ve got enough going on without you making matters worse by sulking and acting like a petulant child.’
Aleena looked as though she was about to say something, narrowed her eyes, pursed her lips and then turned and stormed out.
‘Was that necessary?’ I asked, arms folded.
The Doctor held up a finger. ‘Don’t. Just don’t.’
‘Well what’s it for?’ I asked, refusing to back down. ‘Why snap at her like that?’
He was now folding his arms. His pose looked almost identical to my own. Like a mirror image.
‘People used to enjoy travelling with me. They used to enjoy going on big adventures, fighting Daleks and Weeping Angels and Kraals. Now they get involved with people and fall in love. They invite dangerous entities into their minds and become deceptive. They moan and whine and complain because they can’t get their own way all of the time.’
‘And? That’s life?’
‘Life is supposed to be fun!’ he thundered. ‘Travelling in the TARDIS is dangerous and scary, but it’s fun.’
‘Then maybe you need to realise that too.’
He stopped. He was silent for what seemed like an eternity.
‘What do you mean?’ was all he asked, in a low, whisper-like voice.
‘You’re reckless. You throw people into situations and fail to help them when they need it. And you’ve lost your touch. You skirt around issues and you completely fail to see when problems are staring at you directly in the face.’
‘Like what?’
‘Like Caroline.’
He looked a little confused. I hadn’t really been told a lot about Caroline, but the psychic connection between the Doctor and I had grown a little and I had somehow known about her problems.
‘How many times have you tried to get back to Thornsby now?’
‘Every time I try we miss the right year.’
‘Maybe it’s you doing it? Maybe you’re the reason the TARDIS won’t get her back to 2012 to find answers and help cure her.’
‘How can it be my fault?’
I sat down on the same pile of books he’d been sat on a few moments ago. ‘We all know the TARDIS and you are telepathically connected. Maybe the TARDIS senses what you fear. If you take Caroline back and solve her problems, you’ll be on your own again. You know she’ll leave you to go back to her old life and you can’t stand that.’
‘That’s absurd,’ he said, turning away.
‘Is it? Maybe you’re not doing it consciously, but sub-consciously, under all of that, it could be the reason.’
He was quiet. Very quiet. And then he turned to me. He looked lost, like all of his authority and flair had left him. ‘What do I do?’
I smiled sadly. ‘Take her back. Make peace with her and Danny and really mean it. Really mean to take her back to Thornsby. When we leave Xanji-For, whether I’m still a part of you or not, take the two of them back and get them sorted.’
He nodded. I knew he had understood me.
‘Now let’s go and make up with Aleena, eh?’ I said.
‘So, nobody wants a cup of tea then?’ I heard Henri ask as the Doctor and I exited the room.
I turned to look at Henri. All I could feel was hatred towards this little man. Hatred towards him and hatred towards the Doctor. What was happening to me? Why was I feeling like this inside?
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